about warez.at

Fri Oct 19 09:33:23 UTC 2001

There's ongoing discussion on the Italian discussion list about
www.warez.at.  The site shows a BSA banner, but it's a big gif file
(no text). It's old news, I know, and the domain is now property
of BSA:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/22336.html

The gif says "this site has been closed at the request of BSA. Advertizing,
selling or distributing unlicensed software on the internet is
illegal".

Here's the file: http://www.bsa-europe.co.uk/BSA_CLOSED.gif

Looking at the html, you can find this:

    <HTML>
    <HEAD>
    <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1">

    <META name="description" content="The Business Software Alliance,
    the global anti-software theft trading body, enforces intellectual
    property rights by fighting piracy committed over the Internet and
    by traditional means.">

    <META name="keywords" value="warez, appz, progs, progz, cracks,
    crackz, gamez, linkz, links, downloadz, serialz, crackz,
    phreaking, hacking, passwds, passwdz, ddl, files, filez, utilz,
    ftpz, reqz, upz, ftps, downloads, games, freewarez, hackz, hacks,
    crackz, software, illegal, mp3, cd, piracy, pirating, Pir8, bbs,
    sitez, h/p/c/a/v, rawl, rawlish, 0 daywarez, James Milber, David
    Milber">

    <META name="copyright" value="Copyright (c) 2001 by Business Software
    Alliance">
    <TITLE>Business Software Alliance</TITLE>
    </HEAD>

To me this looks really at the borderline of legal behaviour.  The BSA
is playing the policeman, trying to convince people that it is a
public service that acts to protect the law.  Moreover, it advertizes
itself with keywords that have nothing to do with the site itself, to
attract more people and show them that they (BSA) are the authority in
the field of copyright protection.

This behaviour is against the "advertisment self-discipline rules"
that we use in Italy. Probably it is also against some real law, but I
know too little to be sure or to know where to look.  For example, you
are not allowed to wear a uniform unless you are a soldier a policeman
or other officially recognized entity. This is exactly in the same
line.

I strongly suspect that the site is against the law in Austria as
well. Is there some Austrian willing to invest some time on the issue?
It would be great if we manage to show how the BSA is misbehaving.

thanks for your attention
/alessandro